Boat-handling and launching apparatus



May 22, 1951 D. BRE:

BOAT HANDLING AND LAUNCHING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 24, 1948 Patented May22, 1951 BOAT-HANDLING AND LAUNCHING APPARATUS Daniel L. Brei,Cambridge, Mass., assigner to Stanley J. Piwowarski, Saugus, Mass.

Application August 24, 1948, Serial No. 45,838

1 Claim.

This invention' relates to boat-handling and launching apparatus forvarious small boats, such as canoes, rowboats, in fact, any type of boathaving a keel, or Without a keel, round-bottomed, flat-bottomed, orotherwise, and having any cross-sectional shape. The apparatus isadjustable at will to any conditions met with in the launching of smallboats by hand, from oats, or the like, and to haul them out of thewater, by simply adjusting the parts to the shape and size of the boatto be handled. The invention will best be understood by reference to thefollowing description when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing of one specic embodiment thereof, while its scope will bepointed out more particularly in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a boat launching and handling apparatusembodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, and to the embodiment of the inventionillustrated therein as an example, there is shown a base to be aiixed toa float, wharf, or the like, and serving to support a pair of rollers 9adjustably mounted on said base, by novel mechanism to present therollers in various positions (see Fig. 1) angularly with relationship tothe base. To this end, each roller 9 is provided at each end with ashaft Il, herein a lag-screw, threaded into the end of said roller, andpreferably provided with a ball-bearing I3, of common form, held on theshaft as by a nut I5. The ball-bearing turns in a recess I1 provided ina bracket I9 secured as by bolts 2| to an underlying roller-support 23.

Each roller-support 23 is associated with an underlying mechanism ofnovel form to cause said support to move about an axis X-X (see Fig. 5)extending crosswise of an axis Y-Y (see Fig. 1) of the roller 9. In thisinstance, this mechanism comprises a pivot 25 (see Fig. 5) such as abolt or stud provided with a nut 21 to enable upper and lower brackets29 and 3| (see Fig. 2) to turn about the axis X-X, and to enable theroller 9 to assume various positions to this end, the upper bracket 29comprising a pair of L-shaped plates 33 affixed by bolts 35 to theroller support 23, and the lower bracket 3| comprises a pair of L-shapedplates 31 aiTixed by bolts 39 to the base One pair of plates, herein thelower pair, (see Fig. 2) is separated to admit the other pair of plates,and the bolt (see Fig. 5) joins all four plates together, whilepermitting one pair to turn with relation to the other about the axisX-X. Thus, the 'boat is positioned rmly on the rollers for transport toand from the float and to and from the water, regardless of the shape ofthe boat. If the boat has a keel, the latter remains between the ends ofthe rollers. If the boat has no keel, the rollers furnish whateverguidance is required. This is true, also, in the case of a flat-bottomedboat having no keel. Thus, the apparatus is adapted to serve many typesof boats, regardless of their form.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

An apparatus for handling a boat by traversing it over the samecomprising a pair of roller supports carrying cylindrical rollers spacedapart to permit the center line of the boat bottom to be advancedbetween them with the rollers extending athwartships and presented toportions of the tom.

DANIEL L. BREI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES TATENTS Number Name Date 2,405,810 Berg Aug. 13, 1946FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 381,482 France Jan. 13, 1908

